The Delhi High Court on Wednesday ordered the removal of some objectionable photographs of former AIADMK leader Sasikala Pushpa from online platforms such as Facebook, Google and YouTube.
A Bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Talwant Singh gave the direction on Ms Pushpa’s plea challenging a June 2 verdict of a single judge Bench of the court, which rejected her plea to restrain publishing or showing certain photographs of her, allegedly with a man belonging to a rival political party, at her residence in the Capital.
The court also stayed the portion of the June 2 verdict where the single judge Bench had ordered Ms Pushpa to pay ₹2 lakh each to Facebook and Google as penalty. It posted the case for further hearing on September 3.
During the hearing, Facebook, Google and YouTube argued that they were only an “intermediary” and do not decide whether a photograph or a post was objectionable or defamatory.
Ms Pushpa had argued that the photographs did not qualify as obscene but she being married to another man qualify as defamatory.
On June 2, the court dismissed her plea saying, “The public interest in knowing the meeting of the plaintiff [Ms Pushpa] at her residence with a man belonging to a rival political party far outweigh the private interest of the plaintiff of keeping the same hidden from public eyes”.
